Methods, arrangements and constructions, related to the above disclosed technical field and property, are previously known in several different embodiments.
As a first example of the background art and the technical field to which the present invention relates, mention might be made of the contents in an International Patent Application serial number: PCT/SE2002/001390, with a publication number WO-A1-2003/008272, or a Patent Publication EP-B1-1 414 700.
Said patent publication shows and describes a method and an apparatus for causing the packaging of one or more piece goods in one or more plastic bag units, where said plastic bag units are, in a selected transport direction, oriented after one another and mutually united with the aid of two strips or carrier strips allocated each to its arranged or related bag unit side and integrated with the bag and the remainder of the bag material.
In said patent publication are shown and described the utilisation of a first station, a first means, whereby each one of said folded bags, from a folded and/or closed position, become openable by causing said means, allocated to each respective bag unit side with the carrier strip, to pass rails or similar arrangements oriented in a spaced apart relationship from one another (according to FIG. 1b).
The patent publication discloses a method and an apparatus for guiding a packaging blank web (1) which passes a filling station (not shown), at which individual opened packaging blanks or bag units (2) are filled, whereupon said web, preferably sequentially, is advanced up to a filling station so that a filling of the bag unit (2) with piece goods takes place in a time interval formed between advancement occasions, each bag unit (2) displaying a first wall (3), a second wall (4), opposed to said first wall, with longitudinal first and second edges (5, 6), as well as a bottom portion (7).
Two zones (8, 9), transverse in respect of the longitudinal direction of the web, are to form first and second side closures (10, 11) associated with the bag unit, where the web of the bag units includes, in respect of its transport direction, transverse slits (12), which are disposed between the zones (8, 9) for two mutually adjacent bag units (2), whose each respective wall (3, 4) has two opposing edge portions (15, 16), which extend in the longitudinal direction of the web at its second edge (6).
Each one of the bag units includes a continuous retainer member (17, 18), each one cooperating with mechanical means for controlling the edge portions (15, 16) when the web (1) of the bag units is displaced through the filling station, and longitudinal slits (21, 22) being disposed on either side of the transverse slits (12) between the web (1) and the retainer members (17, 18).
It is here particularly disclosed that the retainer members (17, 18), in connection with the sequential feeding steps, are moved into slits (23) located transversely in relation to a filling station in a guide means (24), the retainer members (17, 18) being moved apart a certain extent up to the maximum opening width of the bag unit (2), at the same time as the retainer members (17, 18) are turned through an angle amounting to between 60 and 120°, clockwise and counter-clockwise, respectively, in relation to a vertical plane so that the retainer members (17, 18) and the adjacent located part of the bag unit (2) are oriented substantially horizontally, whereby all remaining bag units are oriented vertically suspended.
Machines and accessories, relating to the above disclosed technology are manufactured and marketed by PRONOVA AB, Halmstad, Sweden.
As one example of the products, which may be obtained from PRONOVA AB, relates to the above disclosed technology refers to a machine, marketed under the trade designation or brand “Sesam VS-100” and which is illustrated in the following FIG. 1 as a first example of the prior art technology, from which the present invention is developed.
“Sesam VS-100” includes a working table and thereby constitutes a complete working station and which, with the aid of allocated first means, holds the bag units in an open position for a manual insertion therein of one or more piece goods.
The machine disclosed here has proved to be flexible in that it can open and close bag units of different sizes, either vertically or horizontally oriented.
FIG. 1 illustrates that the machine is unique in that it can hold a plurality of bag units fully opened during an intermittent or continuous supply and can thereby also offer a high capacity.
The machine discloses the utilisation of a second means, in order to allow the supply to thus opened bag units of one or more piece goods, and where said second means is to be oriented within a selected extent for said first means.
Third means are also disclosed, whereby each one of said bag units is closed in order thereby to cause the enclosure of said one or more piece goods, in which event the closure is selected within a closure zone, allocated to the bag unit, and where this closure zone is selected within an upper edge portion, allocated to the bag unit but below a thickened portion allocated to the bag material and formed into a carrier strip.
Finally, the prior art technology discloses the utilisation of a fourth means, adapted to clip and/or cut off a thus closed bag unit above said closure zone but however below said thickened portion in order thereby to permit the separation of a closed bag containing piece goods as a unit, from a subsequent, counting in said selected transport direction, only closed bag unit.
The technical effect particularly emphasized in the above disclosed patent publication resides in being able, with incisions and/or slits within the upper edge region of the bag unit, to facilitate the filling of one or more piece goods and which disclosure advantageously can be utilised also in the present invention.
It should be particularly emphasized that the preconditions associated with the structure of a bag unit, integrated with two carrier strips and each with a thickened portion, is based on substantially that the same soft and thin plastic material or plastic film is present in both the bag unit proper and in the opposing thickened portions related thereto.
To provide a plastic film with edge rigidifying and particularly formed thickened portions is previously known in a first example, more particularly disclosed in the International Patent Application serial No. PCT/SE2004/001271, with publication number WO-A1-2005/023693
The present invention may be considered as a direct further development of the arrangement and those measures which are shown and described in the above first disclosed International Patent Application.
Further, the properties associated with the present invention, without any particular supplementations of the machine “Sesam VS-100”, will be able to be put into use therein and thereby considerably increase the usability of this machine only by selecting a set serving as semi-manufacture, ideally wound up or zigzag-shaped set of bag units adapted for carrying out the method, where utilised carrier strips are present as a band and to which band are secured (not integrated) opposing edge portions of an openable bag, of preferably a completely different material than the plastic material which had been selected for the carrier strip.
By “semi-manufacture” is meant, according to the present invention, that a plurality of individual, prefabricated and folded together bags are to be provided with specifically structured and specifically produced bag retaining means or carrier strips, adapted to be able to extend between thickened portions allocated to the upper edge portions of the carrier strip for cooperation each with a rail and a lower surface extent, for fixedly retaining folded bags in a sequential coordination after one another, and connection zones adapted to corresponding connection zones for the upper openable edge portion of said bag.
The description uses an expression “thickened portion” and it should be observed that such a thickened portion may have different cross sections, such as circular, elliptical or other cross sections. The thickened portion is to be selected as a “strand”, a thread or other thickened portion for a sliding cooperation with grooves in their allocated rail.
The present invention is based on the utilisation of one or more semi-manufactures, where each one requires a “carrier strip” formed as a plastic film structure.
A number of different such “carrier strips” and method of their production are illustrated and described in greater detail in a Swedish Patent Application serial No. 0601163-9 filed on the same day as the Swedish Patent Application serial No. 0601164-7 from which priority right is claimed in this application and under the designation or title “Carrier strip” with the same Applicant and Inventor as in this application.
The contents of the Patent Application disclosed here are to be considered as a part of the contents of this patent application.